BEIJING (Reuters) – Thousands of people evacuated their homes as Typhoon Haikui made landfall in China’s southeastern Fujian province early on Tuesday, after battering Taiwan for the past two days.
About 114,400 people were moved from risky areas as the typhoon rolled in with a maximum wind speed of 20 metres (66 feet) per second.
Schools in Fuzhou city were suspended and the city’s observatory issued an alert for heavy rain. Schools in Xiamen, Quanzhou and Putian were also shut.
Many flights were cancelled at two airports in Fuzhou and Quanzhou, tourist spots and parks were shut, and ports, coastal and river transportation was suspended, state media reported.
The typhoon lost strength and became a tropical storm after its landfall around 5 a.m. (2100 GMT Monday), the national forecaster reported. It was last reported to be moving over southern Guangdong province, and forecasters expect it to continue to weaken.
(Reporting by Liz Lee, Ryan Woo and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Stephen Coates)
